The Liberal Church doesn’t Understand Grace, nor
can it!
While the liberal church
talks much about grace, they know little about it. They meet at stately
structures that point to a Biblical past. Within, are cultured, educated,
well-mannered, respectable and highly refined people. But they seldom carry a
Bible and even more seldom do they spontaneously share a verse from it. They
“say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing,’” (Rev.
3:17), but they no longer believe much of the Gospel, the parts that are
uncomfortable – the judgment and righteousness of God and the depravity of
humanity.
In contrast, the
believing church meets in store fronts, rented halls, and even in new, shiny
buildings. Generally speaking, the people within are not refined and
respectable. Nor are they highly educated or cultured. They often come limping,
bringing within them scars from their broken past, but they come with their
Bible and are excited about what they find in it. This is because they know
that they need its Gospel message of peace, reconciliation and healing.
How do they know
this? Because God has revealed it to
them! And why does the liberal church not know this and instead has
exchanged the Gospel message for an updated message of universal salvation or
one of, “There are many ways to salvation?” Because they have rejected God’s
revelation! In rejecting the message of judgment and depravity, they have also
rejected the message of grace. The great 18th century American
theologian, Jonathan Edwards, put it like this:
- The glory of divine grace appears chiefly in its being on
the sinner when he is in a condition exceedingly miserable and
necessitous. In order, therefore, that the sinner may be sensible [aware]
of this glory, he must first be sensible of the greatness of his misery,
and then of the greatness of divine mercy…Indeed, the soul is not capable
of receiving a revelation or discovery of the redeeming grace of God in
Christ, as redeeming grace, without being convinced of sin and misery. He
must see his sin and misery before he can see the grace of God in
redeeming him from that sin and misery. (From the sermon, God Makes Men
Sensible of their Misery)
Edwards preached that we
are unable to understand and appreciate grace until we see our need for it.
Likewise, we have little esteem for the Savior, as long as we refuse to see
that we are miserable sinners who require His mercy.
This is not merely a
psychological principle; it is also the will of God! He will not reveal
himself to the self-satisfied:
- At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and
learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes,
Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” (Matthew 11:25-26)
Why is our God pleased
to reveal Himself only to the meek and lowly - the brokenhearted as the Psalms
assert?
- The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those
who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18; Isaiah 66:1-2; 57:15)
And why must we first
know of the judgment of God (and our deserving it) before He will reveal to us
His mercy? Edwards warned that we need first to have an appreciation of
both judgment and mercy:
- If men were sensible of the love of God without a sense
of those other attributes, they would be exposed to have improper and
unworthy apprehensions of God…For this is the very end of Christ’s laying
down his life and coming into the world, to render the glory of God’s
authority, holiness, and justice, consistent with his grace in pardoning
and justifying sinners.
Truth and beliefs are
the foundation for any relationship. If I believe that my wife is trying to
hurt me, this belief will influence how I feel and act towards her. Similarly,
what we believe about God will determine the nature of our relationship. Therefore,
it is essential that we understand God – His hatred of sin and love of
righteousness combined with His willingness to endure the judgment that we
deserved:
- God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)
Why is this knowledge –
that we are sinners who deserve nothing from God other than condemnation – so
essential? Without it, we would become arrogant and boast. This is why God
chose to reveal Himself the broken people of this world (1 Cor. 1:26-29).
Before we are ready to
see the glory of grace, we have to see our utter unworthiness. Before we can be
raised and honored, we must first be humbled:
- But he [God] gives us more grace [to the humble]. That
is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the
humble. (James 4:6)
·
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up
in due time…God of all grace…after you have suffered a little while, will
himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:6, 10)
Humility is the doorway
to grace. Therefore, God will not graciously reveal Himself to the proud.
Instead, according to Jesus, He must first humble them:
- “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
But how do we humble
ourselves to receive this grace? We acknowledge the truth about ourselves – that
the only thing that we deserve from God is judgment, and that it is only by His
sheer mercy that we have anything good in our lives! Paul claimed that this was
the purpose for the Law:
- Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to
those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the
whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared
righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law
we become conscious of our sin.
The Law was given to
show us our true moral status and to humble us by making us “conscious of our
sin.” Solomon acknowledged this truth as he dedicated the Temple:
- “When a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your
people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and
spreading out their hands toward this temple— then hear from heaven, your
dwelling place. Forgive and act.” (1 Kings 8:38-39)
Solomon acknowledged
that it is “the afflictions of their own hearts” that will produce q humble
awareness of our hopelessness and bring about true prayer. It is only in the
context of brokenness that we learn to die to ourselves – to cease self-trust
in favor of God-trust:
- “The Lord your God led you all the way in the
wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what
was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled
you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither
you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on
bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
(Deut. 8:2-3)
The humbling reveals to
us our failures and needs. Ultimately, it leads us to abandon our ways in favor
of His. However, the humbling process does more than simply to reveal to
us our needs and insufficiency in the face of trials. It also uncovers our
moral corruption.
When Israel was deprived
of their needs and desires, they not only had an angry bio-chemical reaction.
They also rebelled against the God who had provided so graciously for
them. The trial – the humbling experiences – brought to their awareness not
only feelings, but a fully developed self-righteous program, complete with its
self-justifications and vicious accusations against their Benefactor. It
uncovered beliefs – “I will only follow You if I get what I want. You are my
need-provider. If I don’t get what I want from You, I will hate You.”- that
were entirely contrary to blessed love-relationship with their Savior. These
beliefs needed to be exposed and confronted. However, without the trials and
humbling, this script would remain hidden and true loving relationship would be
undermined!
If, instead, mercy and
blessing is extended to the self-satisfied, this would only serve to harden and
affirm them in their self-righteousness and entitlement mentality.
It is the humble who
will see God (Matthew 5:3-8) and enjoy Him forever. This is the message we must
continue to preach. Without the preaching of judgment and our deserving it, we
will not be humbled, and our appreciation and adoration of our Savior will
suffer – also discipleship! Paul therefore reminded Titus about the nature of
true preaching:
- At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived
and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice
and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and
love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because
of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy…And I want you
to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be
careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. (Titus 3:3-5, 8)
Lest we become proud, we
need continual reminder of who we are and from where we have come. It is only
in the context of humility that gratefulness will thrive, and with it, devotion
to our Lord. The Lord will not throw His pearls before unrepentant swine (Mat.
7:6)!
However, we evangelicals
are forgetting from where we have come and who we are. We rarely hear sermons
on judgment, sin, and human depravity, and so we are losing our appreciation
for grace. By neglect, we are becoming the liberal church. God help us!
